CH 33

Suspicion of Tailing

The day after rescuing Sieg and his friends in the Labyrinth, “The Swirling Depths of the Royal Tomb”.

As soon as classes had ended for the day, Mize Howence left the classroom a step ahead of everyone.

“I’m sorry, please excuse me first for today!”

“Do you have an errand?”

Usually the four of them: Tweight, Gran, Elysia, and Mize would leave school together.

Elysia asked Mize, who was about to leave ahead.

“I’m about to run out of the seasonings I keep in my room, so I was planning on buying some around the castle town…”

“Now that you say it, Mize, you cook for yourself…Alright, see you tomorrow then.”

“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Mize then went to notify Tweight and Gran, before leaving the classroom.

Just before passing through the door, she nonchalantly looks at Tweight.

— Don’t follow me.

This was outside her expectations.

No, it’s too early to tell. If her expectations were correct, then it shouldn’t be this simple to get rid of the tail.

— Is Tweight-san secretly acting as my escort?

Mize began to harbour this suspicion the other day.

From the start, it felt suspicious. Recently, during lunch break, Tweight would come late to the courtyard around once every three days. Gran and Elysia did not notice, but if one looked closely, dirt could be seen on his clothes and sand could be seen on the soles of his shoes during the times he arrived late. It was either he went to the grounds, or off-campus.

But “I stopped by the library” was the explanation Tweight gave.

It’s true that he had previously said that he liked reading, but…he shouldn’t have been visiting the library as often as he did.

One day, when Tweight said “I stopped by the library” as usual.

Mize went to the library’s receptionist and gave Tweight’s description, before asking “Has this person come to the library today?”

The result was– negative.

Tweight had lied about stopping by the library.

When the lie was exposed, Mize immediately confronted Tweight to ask for the truth.

But she was asking the quick-witted Tweight. It had ended after he suitably evaded the topic.

The question still wasn’t cleared up, and time continued to pass by in a blur.

Then came the recent incident.

“…He’s definitely trying to hide something.”

It might be to early to suspect Tweight of being an escort, based solely on how he moved the other day.

However, Mize had some idea that she might have had an escort assigned to her.

She also had a vague idea of whose instruction it came from.

— If Tweight is an escort, then he should be tailing her.

With that in mind, Mize decided to carry out her strategy today.

That she was running out of seasonings was a lie. Her real goal was to go around the castle town alone and see if Tweight would come later on.

As Mize passed through the school gates and into the castle town, she took a handheld mirror from the pocket of her school uniform.

While pretending to look at the street stalls, she used the mirror to check behind her.

She had a feeling that someone was following her.

They didn’t seem like a student of the academy. But if it was Tweight, he could have been in disguise.

After walking for a while, the figure did not disappear.

She was not mistaken; they were pursuing her. Convinced of this, Mize– abruptly started running.

“Haah, haah, haah…!”

The bag in her hand sways wildly.

Running with heavy breaths, Mize turns a corner.

She stopped there and quickly turned around.

She waits for Tweight to come from behind, since he should be desperately trying to catch up with her…

“…Huh?”

Contrary to her expectations, Tweight never appeared.

If there was someone tailing her, they should have rushed to follow her after she abruptly started running.

“As I thought, it was just my imagination, wasn’t it…?”

She knew that Tweight was no ordinary person, but as expected, was it too much of a stretch to link him to the escort?

It may have been outside her expectations, but for Mize, this outcome was more favourable.

If her predictions had hit the mark, if Tweight was the escort– it would mean that Tweight knows her true identity.

If it was possible, she would have liked to continue being friends with Tweight, and to get along with him from now on.

That wish seemed as if it would be granted without incident.

And so, after feeling a sense of relief–

“– ugh”

Throb, her head started to ache.

An image came to her mind. How many years ago…no, how many decades ago was this memory from?

Memories of a time before she was born.

There shouldn’t be such a thing. It should be no different from a delusion or a fantasy, but the images that floated in her head were so vivid.

The townscape was old and worn down when compared to the present. In its centre, she was attacked by someone. She had a skilled escort; they were being attacked by assassins, and the mastermind who orchestrated it was– the memory was too clouded; she couldn’t understand it well.

“…déjà vu, is it?”

Mize, who was suffering from a headache, muttered, while placing a hand on her head.

She had been experiencing a sense of déjà vu that came at odd timings. Previously, Elysia had pointed out that “You could have unexpectedly remembered information you had read in a book”, and Mize had pretended to be convinced at the time, but…this time was definitely different. The images that floated in her head were by no means something that she had read in a book.

She really didn’t know what was happening to herself.

The headache didn’t subside. In order to not collapse in the middle of traffic, Mize went into an alleyway.

Immediately afterwards–

“Eh– ugh!”

Suddenly, Mize’s mouth was covered from the side by an outstretched arm.

It was a man’s sturdy arm. The arm quickly pulled Mize deeper into the alleyway.

“Alright…we’ve finally got her.”

“Our luck turned around at the very last moment.”

2 men, clad in red-brown cloaks, smirk and speak.

Mize twisted her body in an attempt to escape from the man’s grasp.

“P-please let go of me! Who are you people–”

“– Shut up.”

As Mize was about to let out a scream, a dagger was held to her neck.

A cold sweat broke out on Mize’s forehead.

“We need to get out of here quickly, before the escort realizes.”

The man starts to move while covering Mize’s mouth.

But, at that moment.

“…I won’t let you guys escape.”

From behind, a familiar voice could be heard.

Author’s Note:

Next chapter will be from Tweight’s perspective.

Translator’s Note:

I originally thought this chapter was from Mize’s (First Person) perspective, but the lack of honorifics (which Mize uses) makes it seem like this is from a narrator’s (Third Person) perspective.